Comparison of the effectiveness of blacklight blue lamp and wood lamp in the screening of tinea capitis

Abstract

Background: Tinea capitis is a common fungal infection of the scalp in children. Most cases are caused by Microsporum canis or Trichophyton mentagrophyte. Wood lamps screen for tinea capitis by detecting green-yellow fluorescence produced by tryptophan metabolites. Because wood lamps are expensive and replacement parts are difficult to find during maintenance, we have developed a blacklight blue lamp device with a similar wavelength that is cheaper than wood lamps.

Objective: To evaluate the BLB lamp device for screening tinea capitis by determining the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy compared to fungus culture (gold standard).

Materials and methods: One hundred seventy-five patients with suspected tinea capitis were tested using KOH examination, fungal culture, a Wood lamp, and a blacklight blue lamp device. The research data obtained will be used to analyze the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the blacklight blue lamp device by comparing it using various methods.

Results: The analysis assessed the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the blacklight blue lamp device, Wood lamp, and KOH preparation when comparing fungal culture as the standard method for diagnosing tinea capitis. The sensitivity was 99.39%, 100%, and 100%, specificity was 100%, 90.91%, and 100%, and accuracy was 99.43%, 99.43%, and 100%, respectively. The p-value for the three methods’ differences was 0.723 for sensitivity, 0.735 for specificity, and 0.676 for accuracy. These results show that the differences between the two methods’ sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The blacklight blue lamp device effectively screened tinea capitis with a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy that were not significantly different from the wood lamp. It may be an inexpensive tool used as a substitute in the health service system.